Iowa River Inundation Maps and the National Weather Service

A partnership between the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) , the City of Iowa City, and the National Weather Service (NWS) has resulted in the posting of easy-to-use Iowa City flood inundation maps on the NWS website.

The maps are designed to help Iowa City area residents and business owners better prepare for flooding and anticipate how different flood levels might affect their homes and other property.

The high-resolution maps make use of an interactive Google Maps-based online application, so that users can see the results of a variety of predicted Iowa River flood levels.

In developing the maps, Iowa Flood Center researchers used bathymetric surveys, supplemented by aerial LiDAR (laser radar) data of the riverbed, to determine the shape of the channel and the flood plains. Armed with this information, they created detailed maps of river corridors to illustrate where floodwaters will go under different upstream flow conditions.